5  NEXT  SUNDAY  LECTURE:  j   JEWISH  AFFIRMATIONS. 

|  |^  VI.   THE   MESSIAH 


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JEWISH   AFFIRMATIONS 

iii.    The  Holy  Bible. 


A  SUNDAY  LECTURE 


BEFORE 


Congregation  Rodeph  Shalom 


Eighth  Street,  near  Perm  Avenue 

PITTSBURG,  PA. 
BY 

RABBI  J.  LEONARD  LEVY,  D.  D. 


SERIES  2.  SUNDAY,  JAN.  18,  1903  No.  13 


These  Sunday  Lectures  are  distributed  FREE  OF  CHARGE  in  the  Temple 
to  all  who  attend  the  Services. 

Another  edition  is  distributed  free  throughout  the.  City  to  friends  of 
liberal  religious  thought. 

An  extra  edition  is  printed  for  those  wishing  to  have  them  mailed  to 
friends  residing  out  of  the  City. 

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Apply  to  CHARLES  H.  JOSEPH, 

612  Bijou  Building,  Pittsburgh 


SUNDAY   LECTURES 

BEFORE 

CONGREGATION  RODEPH  SHALOM, 


SERIES  II. 


1. 

Emile  Zola;—  A  Tribute. 

16. 

2. 

The  Highest  Gifts. 

17. 

3. 

Art  and  the  Synagogue. 

18. 

4. 

Prejudice. 

19. 

5. 

Youth  and  its  Visions. 

20. 

6. 

Age  and  Its  Realities. 

21. 

7. 

Is  Life  Worth  Living? 

22. 

8. 

Is  Marriage  a  Failure  ? 

23. 

9. 

The  True  and  Only  Son  of  God. 

24. 

10. 

The  Conquering  Hero. 

25. 

11. 

The  Truth  in  Judaism. 

26. 

12. 

The  One  Only  God. 

27. 

13. 

The  Holy  Bible. 

28. 

14. 

29. 

15. 

30. 

CALENDAR  FOR  THE  WEEK 


SUNDAY,  FEB.  1st. 

J0:30  a.  m Service 

2:30  p.  m.  .  .  Religious  School 
4:00  p.  m.  .  Children's  Service 
4:30  p.  m.  .  Teachers'  Meeting 

TUESDAY,  FEB.  3d. 
2:30  p.  m.    .    .    .  Sewing  Circle 
4:30  p.  m.,    Confirmation  Class 


WEDNESDAY,  FEB.  4th. 
4:00  p.  m.,    .    .    .    .  Bible  Class 

THURSDAY,  FEB.  5th. 
8:00  p.  m.,  Current  Topics  Class 

SATURDAY,  FEB.  7th. 

9:J  5  a.  m.,  .  Confirmation  Class 

J0:30  a.  m Service 


Jewish  Affirmations 

III.     THE  HOLY  BIBLE. 


i 

w 

A  SUNDAY  LECTURE 


• 

BEEORE  THE 


Congregation  Rodeph  Shalom 

^^^ 

PITTSBURGH,  PA. 
Vjl  ^M 

F  E  B  R  U  A  RY      1  8  T  H  ,      1903 


BY 

JHK 

RABBI  J.  LEONARD  LEVY,  D.  D. 


PUBLICITY  PRESS— W.  M.  DICK  &  CO. 


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JEWISH  AFFIRMATIONS/ 

III.    THE  HOLY  BIBLE. 


A  SUNDAY  LECTURE 

BEFORE 

CONGREGATION  RODKPH  SHALOM, 

BY 

RABBI   J.    LEONARD   LEVY,  D.  D 
Pittsburg,  January  i8!h,  1903. 


SCRIPTURE  READING  Jeremiah  xxxi,  31-37. 


The  grass  withereth,  the  flower  fadeth:  but  the  word  of  our  God 
shall  stand  forever.     (Isaiah  xl.,  8.) 


A  little  more  than  a  year  ago  I  chanced  to  be  in  Stratford-on-Avon, 
the  birthplace  of  the  immortal  Shakespeare.  Among  the  "sights"  of 
that  city  which  I  visited  was  the  building  containing  the  Shakespearian 
picture-gallery,  theater  and  library.  Interesting  as  are  the  theater 
and  gallery,  the  library  is  even  more  attractive.  Thousands  of  vol- 
umes are  placed  upon  its  shelves,  and  each  volume,  so  it  is  stated,  has 
something  to  do  with,  or  to  say  about,  Shakespeare.  There  are  many 
editions  of  the  dramatist's  works.  There  are  numerous  Shakespearian 
dictionaries,  Shakespearian  grammars,  Shakespearian  commentaries. 
There  are  countless  essays,  of  every  shade  of  opinion,  many  of  them 
being  controversial  in  character,  including  those  which  question  the 
Shakespearian  authorship  of  "The  Works  of  William  Shakespeare." 
Commentaries,  textual  criticisms,  dictionaries,  essays,  grammars,  illus- 
trated editions,  rare  editions,  variorum  editions,  and  so  forth,  make 
lip  this  splendid  collection  of  thousands  of  volumes,  amounting  in  all,  I 
was  told,  to  some  thirty  thousand  books,  more  or  less.  The  visitor 
cannot  fail  to  be  impressed  by  the  fertility  of  the  literary  soil  from 
which  has  grown  so  large  a  collection  of  works,  and  the  great  library 
cannot  but  be  regarded  as  a  tribute  to  the  genius  of  Shakespeare. 

If  you  are  nobody,  no  one  will  worry  about  you.  If  you  do  noth- 
ing, you  will  hurt  no  one  and  no  one  will  attack  you.  If  you  are  ob- 
scure; if  your  light  is  hidden  under  a  bushel;  if  you  never  step  out  of 


*Stenographically  reported  by  Caroline  t,oewenthal. 

3 


the  beaten  track;  if  you  are  content  to  hide  your  personality  under  the 
miserable  aegis  of  fashion;  if  you  bend  your  knee  with  acceptable 
grace  before  the  Baal  and  Astarte,  the  popular  idols,  of  your  day;  if 
you  have  no  original  idea;  if  you  add  in  no  way  to  the  work  going  on 
around  you,  you  will  probably  not  be  the  cause  of  annoyance  or  a 
stumbling  block  to  your  neighbors.  But,  if,  perchance,  God  has  sent 
you  to  do  something;  if  perchance,  you  use  your  God-given  reason;  if 
perchance,  you  work  and  endeavor  to  lead  others  to  work;  if  it  is  your 
fixed  determination  to  be  a  someoae;  if  you  go  out  of  the  beaten  path 
and  old  way;  if  you  do  something;  if  you  attempt  something;  ah!  then 
every  cur  will  snarl  at  you  and  every  human  mosquito  will  try  to 
bite  you  and  every  mean,  contemptible  being  will  have  some  criticism 
to  offer  about  you.  The  moral  of  this  is  that  most  people  usually  de- 
termine to  remain  among  the  nobodies,  for  thus  they  get  along  with- 
out raising  envy,  jealousy,  misapprehension  and  misconception.  Should 
you  dare  attempt  to  be  a  somebody,  you  will  find  the  shafts  of  criti- 
cism falling  fast  around  you;  you  will  find  how  exceedingly  miserable 
life  can  be  made  for  you  if  you  care  to  notice  "the  slings  and  arrows 
of  outrageous"  criticism. 

It  may  be  well  to  remember  these  facts  in  considering  the  case 
of  the  Bible  and  the  people  who  gave  it  to  the  world.  If  it  be  true 
that  Shakespeare  has  been  the  source  of  inspiration  to  thousands  of 
volumes,  it  is  equally  true  that  the  Bible  has  inspired  tens  of  thou- 
sands. I  believe  that  I  am  thoroughly  conservative  when  I  say  that 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  books  are  either  inspired  by  it,  directly  or  in- 
directly, or  are,  in  someway  or  other,  indebted  to  it  for  some  one 
theme  or  more.  A  vast  number  of  commentaries,  dictionaries,  gram- 
mars, encyclopedias,  treatises,  lectures,  sermons,  criticisms,  essays  of 
every  kind,  have  appeared  from  time  to  time,  the  Bible  being  their  in- 
spiration. The  Work  itself  has  passed  through  edition  after  edition, 
until,  as  you  have  before  heard,  in  the  last  century,  conservatively 
estimated,  five  hundred  million  copies  of  it  were  circulated  through- 
out the  world.  Such  has  been  mankind's  spontaneous  recognition  of 
the  value  of  this  product  of  the  genius  of  the  descendants  of 
Abraham.  Were  the  Bible  a  nothing,  and  were  the  claims  made  by  the 
people  of  the  Bible  also  nothing,  both  would  have  escaped  detection. 
I  take  it  that  the  controversies,  the  commentaries,  the  attacks  on,  as 
well  as  the  friendship  shown  to  the  Scriptures  and  the  people  who 
wrote  them,  are  the  world's  tribute  to  the  high  value  placed  upon  the 
Book  itself  and  upon  the  people  of  the  Book. 

It  is  necessary  for  me  this  morning  in  dealing  with  this  subject 

4 


to  speak  about  some  very  elementary  matters;  that  is  to  say,  elemen- 
tary as  far  as  the  scholars  of  the  world  are  concerned;  but  you  will 
pardon  me  if  I  tell  you  that  I  feel  certain  that  they  are  not  elemen- 
tary as  far  as  most  of  us  are  concerned.  Unfortunately,  it  is"  not 
the  custom  now-a-days  to  give  serious  attention  to  Bible  criticism,  and 
if  there  be  any  people  ignorant  of  the  Bible  to  a  greater  degree  than 
they  should  be,  I,  to  our  shame,  confess  it  is  the  Jew.  It  is  his  book. 
His  people  wrote  it.  It  has  been  the  inspiration  of  his  fathers.  For 
it  they  lived;  for  it  they  were  the  accursed  of  men;  through  it  we  are 
to  be  the  blessed  of  men.  And  yet  I  verily  believe  that  there  is  more 
ignorance  of  the  Bible  among  Jewish  people  than  among  any  other 
people  who  are  permitted  to  investigate  and  to  study  and  to  search 
the  Scriptures.  Whatever  the  cause  of  this  sad  effect,  there  is  no  rea- 
son for  its  continuance  to-day.  We  should  strive  to  remove  this  re- 
proach speedily  and  effectually. 

You  have  always  imagined  that  the  Bible  is  a  book.  It  is  not  a 
book;  it  is  many  books.  You  have  always  imagined  that  the  original 
name  of  the  Bible  was  "The  Bible";  it  was  originally  called  in  Greek 
"Ta  Biblia,"  the  books,  and  it  was  only  called  "The  Bible"  late  in  its 
history.  In  the  fifth  century  of  the  present  era  these  Books  called 
"The  Bible"  were  known  as  "the  Books,"  in  Hebrew  Sepharim,  Some 
called  them  Miqra,  or  The  Reading.  Nowhere  was  this  work  called 
the  Bible,  giving  us  the  impression  that  it  is  a  single  book,  until  with- 
in comparatively  recent  times.  The  Bible,  then,  is  not  one,  but 
many,  books.  Accepting  for  this  morning  the  Christian  arrangement 
of  the  work,  we  have  in  the  Bible  a  series  of  sixty-six  books;  thirty- 
nine  of  them  are  called  by  Christians,  the  "Old  Testament,"  twenty- 
seven,  the  "New  Testament.''  I  would  not  have  you  imagine  that  if  I 
use  the  terms  Old  and  New  Testaments  that  I  feel  myself  bound  by 
this  division.  If  I  speak  of  the  Old  Testament  as  such,  it  is  only  be- 
cause the  term  is  so  generally  used  that  the  use  of  the  word  Bible,  as 
applied  to  the  thirty-nine  books  of  the  Hebrew  Bible,  would  lead  to 
great  confusion  in  public  speaking,  and  very  often  in  written  docu- 
ments. 

This  division,  into  Old  and  New,  has  been  made  because  we  are 
told  in  the  words  read  to  you  from  Jeremiah  (xxxi.,  31-37),  this  morn- 
ing, that  God  promised  to  make  "a  new  covenant"  with  the  people  of 
Israel;  not  the  covenant  He  made  with  them  at  the  time  of  the 
Exodus,  but  a  covenant  which  He  promised  to  write  upon  their 
hearts.  I  accept  the  statement  of  Jeremiah  at  its  full  value,  for 
in  as  much  as  Israel  had  been  faithless,  God  would  inspire  Israel  to 

5 


be  faithful,  and  when  faithful  to  God,  the  spirit  of  the  religion  of 
Israel  would  be  in  the  hearts  of  the  people.  It  is,  in  the  judgment  of 
Jewish  scholars,  a  false  interpretation  to  put  in  the  mouth  of  Jere- 
miah the  assertion  that  several  hundred  years  later  on,  God  was 
going  to  make  a  new  covenant  which  would  give  rise  to  another  Bible, 
or  at  least  to  an  addition  to  one  not  yet  in  existence,  and  which 
should,  in  many  particulars,  render  many  of  the  principles  of  the 
older  Jewish  work,  nugatory  and  of  no  effect.  Jeremiah's  words, 
taken  in  their  plainest  significance,  bear  no  reference  to  an  abrogation 
of  one  covenant  and  the  substitution  of  another.  He  simply  promises 
that  God  will  write  "His  Law,"  not  a  new  one,  but  the  one  recognized 
already  by  Israel,  in  the  hearts  of  the  people,  who  should  revere  and 
follow  it  in  the  spirit  of  obedience  and  love.  More  than  this  Jeremiah 
does  not  say.  He  speaks  also  of  the  deathlessness  of  Israel  if  true  to 
God's  law,  but  not  to  some  new  dispensation,  the  existence  of  which 
would  be  as  much  of  a  surprise  to  Jeremiah  as  it  is  to  his  people. 

No  one  is  more  willing  than  I  to  acknowledge  the  spiritual  beauty 
of  much  that  is  in  the  twenty-seven  books  of  the  New  Testament; 
but  the  claim  we  make  is  that  the  New  Testament  contains  no  new 
truth  not  already  revealed  to  Israel  in  the  Old,  while  that  which  is 
claimed  to  be  new  truth,  in  the  sense  that  it  is  "the  fulfillment"  of 
the  Old,  we  are  forced  to  completely  and  absolutely  reject.  The 
Bible  then  is  to  be  regarded  not  as  the  book,  but  as  the  books,  the 
sixty-six  books,  if  we  consent  to  the  Christian  arrangement,  or  thirty- 
nine  books  if  we  accept  only  the  Jewish  division  of  this  wonderful 
work.  This  is,  as  I  said  before,  an  elementary  fact;  for  to-day  the 
children  of  the  Sabbath  School  are  taught  that  the  Bible  is  a  little 
library  all  in  itself  and  contains  a  number  of  books  written  by  Jewish 
people.  There  was  a  time  when  people  believed  that  the  Bible  was 
perfectly  uniform  throughout  as  far  as  its  matter  and  method  are 
concerned.  There  was  a  time  when  people  believed  in  "  the  unity 
of  the  Scriptures;"  when  they  held  that  a  certain  thought  stated  in 
Genesis,  was  carried  uniformly  through  to  Malachi;  that  then  a  blank 
period  existed  during  which  no  authoritative  works  were  written; 
and  that  finally  the  themes  we  find  in  the  Old  were  uniformly  carried 
on  from  Matthew  to  Revelation.  Against  any  such  general  belief 
modern  scholarship  protests,  and  if  this  protest  should  disturb  the 
reverent  attitude  of  my  Orthodox  Jewish  or  Christian  friends,  we  must 
not  be  halted  by  such  considerations  in  the  pursuit  of  truth.  I  hope 
that  all  here  to-day  are  moved  by  the  one  desire  to  know  the  truth  in 
this  matter  and  that  we  will  not  permit  our  inherited  prejudices, 

6 


our  preconceived  conclusions  to  force  upon  us  that  which  the  Bible 
in  no  place  asks  us  to  accept. 

What  is  the  Bible,  then?  It  is,  as  I  believe,  the  Magna  Charta 
of  human  liberty.  It  is,  as  I  believe,  the  great  Declaration  of  Human 
Independence.  It  is,  as  I  believe,  the  text-book  on  which  modern 
society  is  built.  Where  it  has  gone  and  its  spirit  has  been  realized, 
the  highest  progress  has  followed.  The  so-called  "Bible  nations"  stand 
foremost  in  the  van  of  civilization.  In  spite  of  the  ominous  forecasts 
of  its  opponents,  in  spite  of  the  abuse  it  has  received  from  its  enemies, 
and  in  spite  of  the  wounds  inflicted  by  the  hands  of  its  well-inten- 
tioned but  foolish  friends,  it  stands  peerless  as  the  world's  religious 
classic.  By  its  themes,  all  true  government  is  maintained.  I  do  not 
presume  to  teach  for  a  moment  that  all  the  truth  which  man  is  capa- 
ble of  acquiring  can  be  found  in  these  books  alone;  but  I  do  believe 
that  all  the  truth  necessary  to  aid  any  one  in  leading  a  peaceful,  hap- 
py, good  life  can  be  found  in  these  Scriptures.  The  trouble  is  that 
some  have  claimed  too  much,  and  have  asked  the  world  to  accept  too 
much  with  regard  to  the  Bible,  and  there  has,  therefore,  been  a  re- 
vulsion of  feeling  against  it.  Truthfully  speaking,  the  Bible  has  been 
made  the  authority  for  more  murders  than  have  been  committed  by 
people  in  support  of  any  other  authority;  more  wrong  has  been  con- 
secrated by  the  Bible,  through  false  interpretations,  than  by  any  other 
book  or  series  of  books.  Slavery  has  been  perpetuated  in  its  name. 
Crime  has  been  hallowed  in  its  name.  Families  have  been  rent  asun- 
der in  its  name,  and  the  divine  right  of  kings  has  been  supported  in  its 
name.  In  the  name  of  the  sacred  Scriptures,  in  the  name  of  the  Holy 
Bible,  fetters  have  been  put  on  the  hands  of  men,  and  chains  have 
been  placed  about  their  feet.  There  is  scarcely  a  wrong  that  has  been 
perpetrated  against  unoffending  man  that  has  not  gone  to  the  Script- 
ures for  its  sanction. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  must  be  admitted  that  there  has  been  no 
book  given  to  man  that  has  been  able  to  effect  so  much  for  the  general 
progress  and  prosperity  of  mankind.  Three  epoch-making  events  1 
attribute  mainly  to  the  influence  of  the  same  much-abused  and  oft  mis- 
understood Scriptures.  The  Renaissance,  the  revival  of  learning  in 
Europe  after  the  downfall  of  Constantinople,  when,  as  has  been  so  well 
said,  "Greece  arose  from  the  dead  with  the  Bible  in  her  hand";  when 
the  spirit  of  philosophical  investigation  and  ancient  wisdom  awoke,  when 
science  began  to  dawn  and  new  knowledge  began  to  spread  throughout 
the  Old  World;  this  revival  was  largely  brought  about,  as  can  be 
proven,  by  the  aid  and  the  influence  of  the  Scriptures.  The  Refor- 


mation,  which  was  the  key-note  of  modern  progress,  which  meant  the 
ultimate  removal  of  absolutism;  which  marked  the  beginning  of  the 
recognition  of  the  rights  of  the  individual;  which  meant  that  human 
intelligence  was  to  become  a  greater  authority  than  that  of  any  man 
sitting  in  the  chair  of  governmental,  philosophic,  scientific  or  religious 
authority;  this  Reformation  was  superinduced  by  Martin  Luther  by 
a  study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  And  last,  and  not  least,  since  "time's 
greatest  offspring  is  the  last,"  this  Republic  was  called  into  existence 
mainly  as  a  result  of  Scripture  investigation.  When  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers  landed  at  Plymouth  Rock,  their  choicest  possession,  their 
most  sacred  object  was  not  the  furniture  they  brought  with  them,  was 
not  the  guns  they  carried  with  them,  was  not  the  arms  with  which 
they  had  brought  wherewith  to  defend  themselves  against  the  attacks 
of  animals  and  enemies.  The  sacred  Scriptures  was  their  most  prized 
object.  It  was  the  light  that  had  sent  them  from  Europe  to  the  wilds 
of  this  country,  to  go  out  as  Moses  demanded  of  the  Pharaoh,  "even 
unto  the  wilderness  to  serve  God"  and  not  man,  to  worship  Him  after 
the  dictates  of  conscience,  and  not  after  the  demands  of  the  powerful 
majority.  The  Reformation,  the  Renaissance,  and  the  Republic  of  the 
United  States,  I  attribute  primarily  to  the  influence  of  the  sacred 
Scriptures. 

You  may  now,   therefore,  take  your  choice  with   regard   to  the 

value  of  the  Bible.    It  looks  at  you  as  you  look  at  it.    If  you  come  to 

i 
the  Scriptures  for  ammunition  for  attack,  you  can  find  it.     If  you  go 

after  phrases  to  build  up  modern  skepticism,  you  can  find  them.  If  you 
search  the  Scriptures  for  themes  for  ridicule,  you  can  find  them.  If 
you  enter  there  to  find  that  which  shall  arouse  bitter  antagonism,  you 
may  find  it.  But  if  you  go  to  find  the  sources  of  spirituality,  you  shall 
also  find  them.  If  you  go  to  find,  so  to  speak,  a  devil,  you  shall  find 
him.  If  you  go  to  find  a  spiritual  God,  who  loves  righteousness,  to 
whom  justice  is  most  dear,  who  wishes  His  children  to  seek  equity, 
who  wants  mankind  to  be  happy  ,who  confers  blessing  rather  than 
curses,  and  who  wants  the  wicked  even  to  be  as  happy  as  their  na- 
tures will  permit  them  to  be,  you  shall  find  Him  in  the  Scriptures.  If 
you  want  themes  that  shall  inspire  you  to  take  up  the  sword  of  truth, 
to  wage  the  holy  warfare  of  right,  and  to  seek  the  light,  you  shall  find 
them  here.  "As  you  gaze  on  it,  it  looks  at  you.  Smile  on  it,  it  smiles 
back.  Frown  on  it,  it  frowns  on  you."  Curl  your  lips  in  scorn,  it  will 
simply  reflect  your  mental  attitude. 

The  Bible  is  its  own  defense.    In  my  judgment  we  need  build  up 
no  theories  about  its  inerrancy,  or  infallibility,  or  the  peculiarity  of  its 

S 


inspiration.  The  Bible  makes  no  claim  anywhere  that  its  contents 
are  absolutely  binding,  in  every  particular,  upon  our  conscience.  Such 
a  doctrine  is  unbiblical,  nor  do  I  see  that  it  is  necessary  to  put  such 
a  scaffold  around  it  to  support  its  remarkable  value.  The  authority  of 
the  Bible  is  the  Bible  itself,  and  depends  on  the  truth  of  its  contents. 
I  do  not  believe  any  sentences  in  the  Bible  to  be  true  because  they  are 
in  the  Bible;  I  believe  thy  got  into  the  Bible  because  they  are  true; 
and  if  I  am  unwilling  to  take,  for  example,  the  description  of  Aaron's 
garments  and  put  them  side  by  side  with  the  noble  utterances  of  the 
prophets,  or  the  twenty-fourth  psalm,  and  say  they  are  all  equally 
inspired,  it  is  because  reason  has  some  demands  that  must  be  respect- 
ed, and  because  the  inspiration  theory,  nowhere  claimed  for  the  Bible 
by  the  Bible  writers,  is  much  misunderstood.  When  I  read  that  Aaron 
wore  a  robe  on  which  were  placed  a  breastplate  and  a  girdle,  and  which 
was  ornamented  with  pomegranates  and  bells,  I  accept  that  very  hu- 
man statement  for  what  it  is  worth.  But  when  I  read  the  prophet's 
words  (Isaiah  Ivi.,  1),  "Thus  saith  the  Lord,  keep  ye  justice  and  do 
equity";  or  when  I  read  the  Psalmist's  utterance,  (Psalm  xxiv.), 
"Who  shall  ascend  into  the  hill  of  the  Lord?  or  who  shall 
stand  in  His  holy  place?  He  that  hath  clean  hands  and  a  pure 
heart,"  I  realize  that  I  am  reading  words  of  the  highest  religious  and 
ethical  importance.  When  I  take  these  three  statements  and  put  them 
side  by  side,  and  I  am  told  that  I  must  accept  all  of  them  as  being 
equally  inspired  and  of  equal  spiritual  value,  then  I  am  compelled,  as  so 
many  people  have  done,  to  utterly  reject  the  so-called  "inspiration" 
theory  of  the  Scriptures.  The  claim  that  the  Bible  is  all  holy  has  met 
with  the  equally  false  reply,  it  is  all  unholy.  The  claim  that  it  has 
been  given  by  God,  from  cover  to  cover,  has  led  to  .the  determination 
on  the  part  of  unbelievers  that  there  is  nothing  in  it  given  by  God. 
The  Bible  has  suffered  more  at  the  hands  of  its  friends  than  ever  at 
the  hands  of  its  enemies.  For  the  satirist  may  smile,  and  the  doubter 
may  scoff,  and  the  cynic  may  sneer,  yet  if  there  is  truth  in  the  Bible  it 
will  persist,  despite  the  attacks  of  such  enemies.  But  if  you  start  with 
the  proposition  that  everything  in  the  Bible  is  true  because  in  the 
Bible,  you  have  at  once  harmed  the  cause  of  truth. 

There  is  nothing  that  dies  so  hard  a  death  as  prejudice,  as  a  pre- 
conceived conclusion.  How  many  people  stop  to  think  to-day,  as  we 
are  here  this  morning,  that  the  earth  is  moving  while  the  sun  stands 
still?  How  many  people  think  about  it  at  any  time?  How  many  peo- 
ple realize  it?  You  say  the  merest  child  knows  that  the  earth  is 
moving  and  the  sun  is  still.  I  believe  there  are  hundreds  of  millions 


of  people  who  have  never  heard  this,  and  who  would  be  prepared  to 
gravely  doubt  you,  were  you  to  tell  them  that  the  earth  is  moving  and 
the  sun  is  standing  still.  Go  to  the  benighted  countries  of  the  world! 
Go  to  China,  India,  Corea,  Russia!  Go  to  the  wilds  of  Mexico!  Go  to 
the  South  American  Republics  and  tell  the  people  that  it  is  the  earth 
and  not  the  sun  that  they  see  moving,  and  the  reply  would  be,  if  any 
reply  were  made,  "I  see  the  sun  on  one  side  of  my  house  in  the  morn- 
ing; in  the  evening  it  is  on  the  other  side  of  my  house;  it  is  the  sun 
which  is  moving,  not  the  earth."  Now,  we  believe  that  it  is  the  earth 
that  is  moving  and  the  sun  is  still,  as  far  as  the  earth's  position  is  con- 
cerned. 

How  long  do  you  think  It  took  to  teach  that?  It  has  already 
taken  over  twenty-four  hundred  years  to  teach  this,  and  it  is  very 
probable  that  one-half  of  the  human  race  does  not  know  it  yet,  while 
several  hundred  millions  would  not  believe  it  if  they  were  told  it. 
Five  hundred  years  before  the  common  era,  Pythagoras  taught  what  is 
called  the  "heliocentric  theory,"  that  the  sun  is  the  center  of  a  sys- 
tem, whilst  the  earth  is  a  planet  moving  around  it.  .  This  theory  of 
Pythagoras  was  either  laughed  at  or  ignored,  and  for  ages  it  es- 
caped further  attention.  Some  hundreds  of  years  afterwards  it  was 
again  taught  by  Archimides,  but  was  not  received  kindly.  The  Ptole- 
maic theory  seemed  more  acceptable,  and  later  on  was  generally  re- 
ceived because  it  seemed  to  harmonize  with  the  Scriptural  opinion. 
In  the  Scriptures  we  are  led  to  understand  that  the  earth  does  not 
move;  it  was  the  sun  that  moved  and  was  bidden  by  Joshua  to  stand 
still ;  therefore  any  man,  who  dared  to  teach  that  the  earth  moved,  was 
deemed  an  infidel,  a  denier.  The  position  taken  by  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic Church  with  regard  to  Arnold  of  Brescia,  Bruno,  Galileo  and 
others,  all  of  whom  were  either  made  to  recant,  were  burnt  or  placed 
in  dungeons,  was  based  upon  the  truth  (?)  stated  in  Scripture,  that  the 
earth  stood  still  while  the  sun  moved.  The  opinions  of  the  scientists 
were  not  allowed  to  become  current  knowledge,  for  if  they  did,  the 
Scriptures,  it  was  feared,  would  fall  if  the  scientists'  opinions  could 
be  maintained 

So  it  is  with  regard  to  the  Bible.  We  have  been  told  that  the 
Bible  is  inspired:  that  the  Bible  is  infallible.  I  believe  the  Bible  is 
inspired;  I  do  not  believe  the  Bible  is  infallible.  If  you  mean  by  in- 
spiration that  some  men  have  received  some  truths  of  a  spiritual, 
moral  and  intellectual  character  denied  to  other  men,  and  have  been 
given  the  opportunity  to  interpret  the  laws  and  workings  of  nature  as 
other  men  have  not  been,  then  I  agree  with  you  on  the  subject  of  in- 

10 


spiration.  But  if  you  think  that  inspiration  means,  as  many  do,  that 
God  dictated  into  the  ear  of  men  certain  words,  and  that  while  under 
the  influence  of  that  dictation  they  wrote  down  what  God  told  them, 
then  1  do  not  agree  with  you  on  the  subject  of  inspiration.  I  cannot 
tell  you  what  inspiration  is,  but  I  can  tell  you  what  I  think  inspiration 
is  not.  I  think  that  inspiration  does  not  mean  that  Moses  carved  on 
the  stone  while  God  spoke  to  him.  I  think  that  inspiration  does  not 
mean  that  Isaiah  tuned  his  harp  with  the  plectrum  of  prophecy  and 
that  God  uttered  words  which  he  heard  and  spoke  forth.  I  do  not  be- 
lieve that  inspiration  means  speaking  or  writing  under  the  direct  dic- 
tation of  God  Himself.  I  do  not  believe  that  God  used  any  man's  body, 
or  any  part  of  any  man's  body,  and  so  controlled  it,  that  the  individual, 
whether  he  would  or  whether  he  would  not,  had  to  write  what  God 
forced  him  to  write. 

If,  however,  you  mean  by  inspiration  the  act  of  conscience  which 
forced  a  Moses  to  recognize  the  appeal  of  justice,  which  compelled 
an  Isaiah  to  lift  up  his  voice  and  speak  to  his  people  the  message  of 
comfort  and  hope;  if  you  mean  by  inspiration  that  characteristic  which 
prompted  the  Nazarene  to  go  to  his  people  in  the  spirit  of  his  breth- 
ren, the  Prophets,  to  interpret  their  religion  in  their  spiritual  sense; 
if  you  mean  by  inspiration  that  power  which  conceived  the  Parthenon, 
or  led  a  Praxiteles  to  carve  a  statue  so  that  to  the  latest  ages  it 
should  inspire  sweet  sentiment  and  a  love  of  beauty;  if  you  mean  by 
inspiration  that  power  which  made  Beethoven,  though  deaf,  hear  heav- 
enly melodies,  which  he  transcribed  by  the  power  of  his  genius;  if 
you  mean  by  inspiration  the  power  that  endowed  a  Michael  Angelo  to 
carve  his  Moses,  a  Raffael  to  paint  his  Sistine  Madonna;  if  you  mean 
by  inspiration  that  rugged  energy,  that  sense  of  conscience  that  made 
a  Luther  willing  to  die  for  his  convictions,  then  I,  too,  mean  that. 
Inspiration  has  always  existed,  and  always  will  exist.  Think  not  that 
Palestine  was  sacred  to  inspiration  and  that  outside  of  it  there  was 
none.  Think  not  that  inspiration  was  sacred  to  our  one  Bible,  and  that 
outside  of  our  Bible  there  is  no  inspiration.  The  influence  of  God  can 
stir  men,  how  we  know  not,  but  can  stir  them  anywhere  and  at  any 
time  to  perform  His  will.  That  conception  of  "inspiration, "then,  which 
would  have  us  believe  that  every  chapter,  every  line,  every  word,  every 
letter,  every  vowel  point  of  the  "Old"  Scriptures,  and  every  Greek 
character  of  the  "New"  were  written  under  the  direct  dictation  of 
God,  we  are  compelled  to  reject;  but  "inspiration,"  which  means  the 
product  of  human  genius  dedicated  to  the  Highest,  in  all  lands,  in  all 
ages  and  among  all  people,  this  we  accept. 

11 


When  it  comes  to  the  "infallibility"  of  the  Bible,  we  reject  the 
doctrine  altogether.  The  Bible  is  a  fallible  Book;  it  is  the  work  of 
man.  It  is  the  product  of  man's  views  about  God,  the  yearning  of 
man  after  God.  The  Bible  nowhere,  as  far  as  the  Old  Testament  is 
concerned,  makes  the  claim  that  it  is  infallible.  It  nowhere  states  that 
every  word  in  the  Old  Testament,  or  that  every  utterance  contained 
in  it,  must  be  accepted  as  eternally  binding  on  the  conscience  of  man- 
kind, or  of  the  Jew,  as  the  unerring  and  absolutely  correct  word  of 
God.  As  far  as  the  New  Testament  is  concerned,  I  take  it  that  if  I  can 
show  you  in  an  authorized  version  of  the  New  Testament  one  sen- 
tence which  is  left  out  in  another  authorized  edition  of  the  same  New 
Testament,  because  it  is  agreed  that  the  sentence  is  a  forgery,  and  is, 
therefore,  spurious,  I  think  you  will  admit  that  its  so-called  "infalli- 
bility" is  seriously  impaired.  The  Bible  first  appeared  in. England  as 
an  authorized  translation  in  1611;  it  again  appeared  in  an  authorized 
translation  in  1885,  as  the  Revised  Version.  If  it  were  infallible  in 
1611  how  can  anyone  dare  to  omit  from  the  version  of  1885  one  word, 
much  less  one  important  sentence,  yea,  one  of  the  most  important 
from  the  standpoint  of  Christian  theology?  Yet  this  has  been  done  in 
the  case  of  the  "Epistle  of  John,"  in  which  we  read  in  the  Authorized 
Version  of  1611  (I.  John  v.,  7),  "For  there  are  three  that  bear  record  in 
heaven,  the  Father,  the  Word,  and  the  Holy  Ghost:  and  these  three  are 
one."  This  appeared  in  the  1611  edition  of  the  New  Testament.  In 
the  1885  edition  of  the  New  Testament,  the  first  Epistle  of  John,  chap- 
ter v.,  verse  7,  reads,  "And  it  is  the  Spirit  that  beareth  witness,  be- 
cause the  Spirit  is  the  truth."  This  quotation  is  found  as  part  of  verse 
6  in  the  Authorized  Version  of  1G11,  but  is  made  to  read  as  verse  7  in 
the  Revised  Version  of  1885,  while  verse  7  of  the  Authorized  Version 
is  omitted  altogether  in  the  Revised  Version.  If  the  1611  edition  of  the 
Bible  is  infallible,  why  may  the  1885  edition  omit  a  passage  referring 
so  clearly  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity?  I  am  told  that  the  sentence 
is  omitted  because  it  is  admitted  to  be  spurious,  having  found  its  way 
into  the  text  by  error.  If  this  be  so,  how  are  we  to  tell  what  is  spuri- 
ous and  what  is  not  spurious?  1  can  understand  how,  in  a  human  doc- 
ument, there  can  be  found  much  that  is  spurious,  but  how  forgeries 
or  spurious  sentences  can  find  their  way  into  a  document  dictated  by 
God  is  more  than  I  am  able  to  understand,  and,  I  think,  is  more  than 
can  be  successfully  explained. 

As  far  as  the  Old  Testament  is  concerned,  we  have  no  worry.  It 
nowhere  makes  the  claim  that  it  is  the  absolutely  inspired  word  of 
God.  We  find  in  Isaiah's  statement  quoted  at  the  beginning  of  this  ad- 

12 


dress,  "the  word  of  our  God  shall  stand  forever."  But  that  phrase, 
"the  word  of  our  God,"  is  not  what  theologians  to-day  mean  when  they 
speak  of  "the  Word  of  God."  The  "Word  of  God"  as  used  by  theologians 
is  taken  to  mean  The  Scriptures;  but  the  "word  of  God"  as  used  in  the 
Old  Testament  means  "Eternal  Law,"  or  "The  Truth,"  and  nothing 
more.  "The  grass  withereth,  the  flower  fadeth,  but  'the  truth'  shall 
stand  forever,"  is  the  plain  meaning  of  Isaiah's  prophecy.  Some  may 
say  that  I  am  juggling  with  texts,  but  nothing  is  further  from  my  mind. 
Nothing  can  be  clearer  than  that  the  "Word  of  God"  as  used  in  the 
Old  Testament  cannot  refer  to  the  Bible,  which  was  not  in  existence 
when  Isaiah,  for  example,  made  the  statement  just  quoted.  If  further 
proof  were  needed  we  might  cite  that  sublime  passage  from  the 
Psalms  (xxxiii.,  6.)  "By  the  word  of  the  Lord  were  the  heavens  made." 
Surely  no  one  can  imagine  that  "the  word  of  the  Lord,"  here  referred 
to,  can  mean  the  Bible,  or  anything  but  "the  Eternal  Law!" 

It  is  not  we  who  are  to  blame  for  such  misconceptions,  but  you, 
oh,  ye  literalists!  A  word,  a  phrase,  a  sentence  is  pounced  upon,  with- 
out, regard  to  to  its  connection  in  a  chapter,  without  respect  to  its 
most  transparent  meaning,  without  consideration  for  the  circum- 
stances of  the  time  and  place  of  its  utterance,  and  upon  it  the  most 
abstruse  theories  are  built  up.  Texts,  many  of  them  incorrectly  trans- 
lated, are  made  the  foundation  of  dogmas,  with  which  their  writers 
were  totally  unfamiliar,  and  of  creeds  which  would  have  been  utterly 
repudiated  by  the  Old  Testament  authors.  Oh,  ye  literalists!  Why 
is  the  world  not  emphatically  informed  that  the  headlines  to  be 
found  in  English  translations  of  the  Bible  are  not  to  be  found  in  the 
original  documents?  Why  are  not  the  people  most  clearly  taught  that 
the  headings  of  each  chapter  do  not  exist  in  the  original  documents? 
We  are  accused  of  a  lack  of  spirituality!  We  are  told  that  we  cling 
to  the  letter  of  the  text!  We  are  charged  with  being  wedded  to  the 
form  and  opposed  to  the  spirit!  Is  not  the  reverse  the  truth?  Is  it 
not  you,  ye  literalists,  who  cling  to  texts  on  which  you  build  mys- 
tery upon  mystery  and  dogma  on  dogma,  "a  little  here  and  a  little 
there,"  when  no  mystery,  no  dogma  was  ever  intended?  When,  oh,  ye 
literalists,  you  have  mastered  the  elements  of  Hebrew  grammar,  when 
you  can  translate  every  word  of  the  Scriptures  correctly,  when  you 
can  account  for  the  value  of  every  vowel  point  and  every  musical  note 
to  be  found  in  the  text  of  the  Bible,  when  you  can  quote  the  whole  of 
the  Old  in  Hebrew,  and  repeat  all  of  the  New  in  Greek,  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  a  people's  consciousness  stands  for  something,  a 
people's  literature  means  more  than  microscopic  searching  of  texts 

13 


and  that  the  spirit  of  truth  can  never  be  contrary  to  human  reason, 
though  it  may  often  seem  beyond  it!  "Search  the  Scriptures,"  is 
sound  advice.  "Ponder  on  the  Bible,  ponder  on  it,"  taught  the  Rabbis, 
"for  everything  is  in  it."  And  so  I  repeat,  "Ponder!  Ponder!  Search! 
Search!  Study!  Study!  iAnd  when  we  have  pondered,  searched  and 
studied  we  shall  find  that  the  Bible  is  not  one  uniform  book,  divinely 
inspired,  absolutely  correct  and  totally  infallible,  but  that  throughout 
it  bears  the  distinct  marks  of  man's  seeking  God  and  not  of  God  try- 
ing to  find  out  about  man. 

The  Bible  finds  its  authority  in,  and  is  worthy  of  our  reverence  for, 
this:  it  was  the  first  book  which  gave  mankind  a  revelation  of  a  God 
who  loves  justice  and  who  demands  righteousness.  It  is  the  first  Book 
in  the  history  of  the  world  which  taught  mankind  that  we  could  please 
God,  not  by  prayer,  not  by  sacrifices,  not  by  rites,  not  by  ceremonies. 
The  men  of  olden  times  believed,  as  so  many  do  to  this  day,  that  by 
creeds  and  ceremonies,  by  dogmas  and  forms,  they  could  worship  God. 
But  the  prophets  came  and  taught  that  mercy  is  more  than  sacrifices; 
to  do  justice,  to  love  mercy  and  to  walk  humbly  before  God  is  more 
than  all  the  fat  of  rams.  But  there  are  those  who  tell  me  that  there 
is  a  book  containing  a  new  command,  "Love  ye  one  another."  New, 
perhaps,  this  was  to  the  pagan  world,  as  it  is  new  to  this  day,  for  it 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  worn  out  by  frequent  use,  in  any  age.  But 
as  a  command  it  was  not  "new"  to  Israel.  The  sympathetic  reader  of 
the  Old  Testament  finds  that  almost  from  the  first  page  of  the  Bible, 
on  which  God  is  reported  to  have  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth 
by  His  will,  down  to  the  very  last  page,  God  is  represented  as  wishing 
His  children  to  live  together  in  peace  and  love,  in  the  pursuit  of  jus- 
tice, in  the  performance  of  equity,  rather  than  in  any  other  way.  The 
Bible  must  stand  or  fall  because  of  its  intrinsic  value,  without  being 
supported  by  the  doctrines  of  inspiration  and  infallibility.  The  Bible 
can  stand  any  human  test  because  it  was,  and  is,  the  great  Work  which 
teaches  man  that  revelation  of  God  who  wanted  holiness  and  did  not  ask 
for  orgies  wherewith  He  might  be  worshipped.  The  Bible  furthermore 
tells  us  that  God,  the  spiritual  Creator  of  the  Universe,  is  best  served 
by  man,  when  man  serves  his  fellowmen  and  that  the  highest  praise 
and  the  highest  tribute  that  we  can  offer  to  God  is  not  the  bended 
knee,  is  not  the  eloquent  prayer,  but  is  the  brotherly  love,  the  doing  of 
justice  and  performance  of  deeds  of  mercy  toward  all  men. 

The  Bible  has  its  claim  upon  mankind  as  being  the  text  book  of 
optimism.  From  beginning  to  end,  it  teaches  that  we  should  not 
repine,  that  we  should  not  be  sad,  that  we  should  not  hang  our  head 

14 


in  gloom,  but  that  "ever  upward,  ever  onward,  shall  be  our  motto  be." 
Whether  it  was  in  Palestine,  in  Egypt,  in  Babylon,  in  Assyria,  in 
Rome,  whether  it  was  in  Spain,  or  Germany,  in  Austria,  or  in  Rou- 
mania  of  to-day,  it  came  to  those,  who  have  given  the  Scriptures,  with 
the  hope  that  the  present  evil  would  pass  away  and  that  if  Israel 
would  only  be  true  to  Israel's  God,  the  great  mission  of  Israel  would 
succeed.  And  therefore  Israel  was  not  only  the  people  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, Israel  was  not  only  the  theme  of  the  Scriptures,  Israel  was  not 
only  the  preacher  of  the  Scriptures,  but  whenever  Israel  should  be 
faithful,  Israel  should  become  the  Messiah  promised  by  the  Scriptures. 
Therefore  we  look,  not  backward,  but  forward;  not  behind,  but  ahead. 
Man  has  not  yet  attained  to  what  he  yet  shall  be;  he  has  not  achieved 
what  he  can  yet  do.  This  is  one  of  the  sublimest  themes  of  the 
Bible,  it  is  the  source  of  the  high  hope  that  the  human  family  will 
some  day  attain  to  the  great  dignity  of  true  manhood. 

The  Bible  is  the  best  text  book  of  biography  we  know.  Its  lives  of 
holy  men,  the  errors  committed  by  even  the  saintliest  and  the  good 
accomplished  by  its  noblest  heroes  and  heroines,  have  been  the  stories 
which  have  been  repeated  since  the  childhood  of  the  world  down  to 
this  day.  And  to  this  day  the  child  will  listen,  with  lisping  wonder, 
when  it  hears  of  Abraham,  the  friend  of  God,  of  Moses,  the  servant 
of  God,  of  David,  the  strong  but  weak  king,  of  Ahab  the  wicked,  of 
Elijah  the  fiery  prophet  of  God,  of  Isaiah  the  inspired,  of  Jeremiah,  the 
man  of  sorrows,  of  Ezekiel,  the  man  of  visions.  To  this  day,  if  only 
properly  interpreted,  the  child  loves  to  hear  of  the  moral  courage  of 
an  Amos,  who,  in  the  palmy  days  of  Judea,  dared  to  promise  its  down- 
fall if  justice  and  equity  were  not  pursued;  of  a  Hosea,  who,  in  his 
sorrow  and  affliction,  brought  to  the  faithless  people  a  promise  of 
forgiveness  by  the  God  of  Love,  if  they  would  only  hearken  to  His 
precepts  and  obey  His  law.  And  as  for  the  Psalms,  they  have  become, 
wondrous  book!  the  liturgy  of  the  world!  The  civilized  world  rever- 
ences them,  sings  them  from  childhood  to  old  age,  in  the  hour  of 
success  as  in  the  hour  of  defeat.  In  the  hour  of  triumph  as  in  the  hour 
of  death,  there  is  not  a  human  experience  that  is  not  touched  upon 
by  the  Psalter  of  the  sweet  singers  of  Israel. 

But  the  Bible's  greatest  value  is  its  universality.  In  its  books 
there  is  a  message,  not  for  Palestine  of  old,  but  for  Pittsburg  of 
to-day,  for  America  of  to-day,  even  this  message:  "Thus  saith  the 
Lord,  keep  ye  justice  and  do  equity,  for  the  man  that'  doeth  this  is 
my  delight,  saith  the  Lord."  The  Bible  is  the  Book  of  childhood;  it  is 
the  Book  of  youth;  it  is  the  Book  of  age;  it  is  the  Book  of  life;  it  is 

15 


Mook  of  after-life.  It  is  the  Book  which  has  built  nations.  It 
is  the  Book  that  has  told  nations  that  unless  they  love  righteousness, 
must  fall.  It  is  the  Book  that  has  produced  the  world's  greatest 
word  in  the  hope  of  burning  it  into  the  conscience  and  consciousuess 
of  mankind.  This  great  word,  "Righteousness,"  in  Hebrew  means 
first,  "charity,"  and  it  also  means  "justice;"  and  as  has  been  sug- 
gested to  me  by  Mr.  Markhain,  the  author  of  "The  Man  With  the 
Hoe,"  this  word,  which  is  the  theme  taught  by  Israel,  means  "affec- 
tionate justice;"  justice  tinged  with  affection,  justice  heightened  by 
a  sense  of  love. 

Behold  the  Books!  We  must  study  them,  we  must  know  them, 
for  they  make  clear  why  we  live  as  members  of  the  house  of  rsrael, 
they  explain  the  reasons  of  Israel's  spiritual  power,  they  can  make  of 
us  immortals  like  themselves,  if  we  are  true  to  them,  as  they  make 
us  the  rejected  and  the  despised  if  we  are  faithless  to  it.  Let  us  con- 
fess that  much  as  we  revere  the  Bible,  as  much  as  we  love  it,  it  is  the 
work  of  man.  If  we  put  gold  and  alloy  together  in  a  coin,  we  have  not 
cheapened  the  value  of  the  gold,  but  it  is  absurd  to  say  that  the  alloy 
is  gold.  Now,  the  Bible  is  a  great  mine  in  which  we  find  gold  and 
rock  and  soil  and  it  is  well  that  we  should  assay  it  and  stand  by  the 
highest  and  best  that  is  in  it.  Some  fear  that  by  such  a  rational  atti- 
tude the  cause  of  religion  will  be  harmed.  Reason  is  ever  religion's 
friend,  never  its  enemy.  We  have  no  reason  to  fear  that  because 
Mr.  Marconi  has  established  his  wireless  telegraph,  that,  therefore, 
electricity  is  going  to  be  harmed.  Because,  to-day,  we  have  learned 
what  chemistry  means,  it  does  not  necessarily  follow  that  the  elements 
of  nature  are  going  to  be  upset;  and  because  we  know  to-day  what 
astronomy  is,  and  because  we  know  that  the  old  teaching  of  astrol- 
ogy is  false,  it  does  not  follow  that  the  stars  are  going  to  falll  fram 
their  positions  in  space!  Neither  does  it  mean  that  because  we  apply 
to  the  Bible,  the  spiritual  treasury  of  Israel,  the  divine  power  of  crit- 
icism, that,  therefore,  the  Bible  will  fall,  and  religion  will  be  harmed. 
On  the  contrary;  it  is  as  true  to-day  as  when  Isaiah  first  proclaimed 
his  great  spiritual  truth,  that  It  Is  the  grass  that  withereth,  the 
flower  that  fadeth,  the  grass  of  "human  infallibility"  withers  and  even 
the  flower  of  "human  inerrant  inspiration"  fades;  but  as  for  "the 
word  of  our  God,"  the  truth,  that  shall  stand  forever. 


A    000  079  251     5 


SUNDAY  LECTURES 

BEFORE 

CONGREGATION  RODEPH  SHALOM, 


SERIES  I. 


1. 

For  What  Do  We  Stand  ? 

14. 

Zionism. 

2. 

The  Consequences  of  Belief. 

15. 

Gone,  but  Not  Forgotten. 

3. 

The  Modern  Millionaire. 

16. 

Pleasures  and  Pastimes. 

4. 

The  Wandering  Jew. 

17. 

Marriage. 

5. 

A  Father's  Power. 

18, 

Intermarriage. 

6. 

A  Mother's  Influence. 

19. 

What  is  the  Good  of  Religion  ? 

7. 

The  Child's  Realm. 

20. 

Love  and  Duty.                 x 

8. 

The  Chosen  of  the  Earth. 

21. 

The  Miracle  of  the  Ages. 

9. 

Atheism  and  Anarchism. 

22. 

A  Jewish  View  of  Easter. 

10. 

A  Jewish  View  of  Jesus. 

23. 

The  Spirit  of  Modern  Judaism. 

11. 

The  Doom  of  Dogma. 

24. 

The  Ideal  Home. 

12. 

The  Dawn  of  Truth. 

25. 

The  Prophets  of  Israel. 

13. 

Friendships. 

26. 

Marching  on. 

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